2 Samuel 15:8

8 For your servant made a vow when I lived in Geshur of Aram,^[a] saying: If the Lord really brings me back to Jerusalem, I will worship the Lord in Hebron."^[b]

2 Samuel 15:8 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 15:8

For thy servant vowed a vow while I abode at Geshur in Syria,
&c.] When at his grandfather's court there:

saying, if the Lord will bring me again indeed to Jerusalem;
which he might be sincerely desirous of:

then I will serve the Lord;
but it is a question whether he ever made a vow to this purpose, or concerned himself about serving the Lord; but it rather may be, this was a lie of his, now framed in order to get leave of the king to go to Hebron.

2 Samuel 15:8 In-Context

6 Absalom did this to all the Israelites who came to the king for a settlement. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.

7 When four years had passed, Absalom said to the king, "Please let me go to Hebron to fulfill a vow I made to the Lord.

8 For your servant made a vow when I lived in Geshur of Aram, saying: If the Lord really brings me back to Jerusalem, I will worship the Lord in Hebron."

9 "Go in peace," the king said to him. So he went to Hebron.

10 Then Absalom sent messengers throughout the tribes of Israel with this message: "When you hear the sound of the ram's horn, you are to say, 'Absalom has become king in Hebron!' "

Footnotes

• [a]. 2 Sm 13:37-38
• [b]. Some LXX mss; MT omits in Hebron